Adjust Your Tracking

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All Rise...

Judge Gordon Sullivan was not kind. He forgot to rewind.

The Charge

They all thought VHS was dead…They were dead wrong!

Opening Statement

Of the various media formats available for home use, VHS had one of the
longest ascendancies in consumer electronics history. The vinyl LP held out a
bit longer, but VHS was the main video format for home use for just about two
decades, depending on how you measure it. Though DVD would knock the format from
its throne by 2005, the sheer length of VHS dominance ensured that tapes and
players were, and are, ubiquitous and cheap—that gave rise to a
significant culture of collection as those who grew up on the format held onto
their tapes out of nostalgia. Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the
VHS Collect documents the modern-day renaissance of VHS collecting, though
sadly it's a film that will likely only appeal to those who already collect.

Facts of the Case

Told through a combination of historical VHS footage and interviews with
collectors, Adjust Your Tracking spends 80 minutes giving us a peek into
the lives and habits of those who still look fondly on those little black
tapes.

The Evidence

Have you ever been hanging out with old friends, maybe from high school, and
somebody says something absurd like "Remember that time with the guy who had
that thing on his face at that place where they used to sell those big
whatsits?" then everyone laughs uproariously at the memory of the guy at the
place with the thing? It happens, but have you ever been in the same situation
with someone else's friends, like maybe a spouse's high school friends, and the
same thing gets said? You have no idea who the guy is, where it happened, or
what everybody is laughing about. That's roughly the experience of watching
Adjust Your Tracking. What we have in the film is basically a bunch of
VHS collectors talking about how "awesome" VHS is and that's why they collect
it. When pressed, not a single one can be more articulate about why they collect
VHS tapes, what's special about the format, or why anyone else should care. In
fact, some of them are openly hostile to those who don't understand and/or share
their obsession. This might be a slight exaggeration—some people gesture
towards the fact that some movies released on VHS never made it to DVD—but
it feels like the interviewees aren't communicating to outsiders at all.

So, if you share a penchant for VHS collecting, watching Adjust Your
Tracking will be like a tribal reunion. The names ("Wizard Video") and the
experiences (buying $1 VHS tapes when Blockbuster put mom'n'pop stores out of
business) will be familiar. The awe with which they speak of the tapes, the
rancor they feel for Blockbuster, and the joy in finding and discussing rare
films are all on display.

The problem is that for the rest of us, those who don't collect VHS
tapes, Adjust Your Tracking is like gazing into a stagnant
pool—there might be some cool stuff at the bottom, but there's too much
muck in the way. The first 20 minutes or so is literally a montage of collectors
waxing rhapsodic about VHS. That would be fine if any one of them could
articulate a single reason why anyone else would care. Sadly, they can't, and
for most of them the love of the format is pure nostalgia. There's nothing wrong
with nostalgia in principle, but it's a tremendously alienating feeling—if
you don't share the same feelings, then the person expressing nostalgia might as
well be speaking a different language. After that there's a bit of history, some
discussion of different video labels, and even some discussion of particularly
rare tapes. Most of these don't go beyond the level of "This video label/rare
tape existed, here's a shot of the logo/box art." Interspersed with all of these
segments are "tours" of individual collections. To the rabid fan it might be
interesting to see how others organize their films (and in the case of one
collector who uses "sub-sub-genres" it is interesting), but for the average
viewer one collection looks much like any other.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

It's not all bad. My favorite moment comes when Lloyd Kaufman, head of Troma
Studios whose fortunes were vastly improved by VHS, says he prefers DVD because
of "the history" provided by the extras like commentaries, etc. It's slightly
ironic, then, that Adjust Your Tracking gets such a solid DVD release.
The 1.33:1 transfer isn't much to look at, but it does justice to the material,
especially the usual 4:3 aspect ratio of VHS. We get a lot of stuff digitized
from VHS tapes, so detail isn't great, and the interview footage looks okay, as
if shot on prosumer level gear. The audio track is a simple stereo affair that
keeps interviewees clear and audible. The music (most of it inspired by the 80s)
is well balanced and showcases surprising dynamic range.

Adjust Your Tracking comes as a two-disc set (there's also a deluxe
version that includes a big-box VHS tape). Extras on the first disc include
commentaries with the director and producers that give a solid peek into the
passion behind the project and how all the different pieces came together. The
first disc also houses three short films focused on the VHS obsession, as well
as the film's teaser and trailer. Moving to the second disc we get some deleted
scenes (including a profile of the infamous Scarecrow Video store), some
extended interviews, and behind the scenes featurettes. Overall, it's a healthy
collection of extras that will please those with a collector's mentality.

The film isn't entirely without merit for non-collectors. I wouldn't say
that Adjust Your Tracking is great for those with no interest in or
experience with VHS, but it has a few interesting moments for those, like me,
who have a bit of knowledge but are firmly outside the world. Discussions of the
more rare videos, and the few times that history is really discussed, are
actually compelling and point out where the film could have gone to be more
successful with outsiders.

Closing Statement

There are two key moments to Adjust Your Tracking. In one, a collector
says "I'd rather die than sell my tapes" and in another a collector compares VHS
collecting to remembering the heroes of World War I and II. If either of those
sentiments ring true for you, this is a film that will feel like coming home.
If, however, these sentiments are foreign, chances are the film will feel
impenetrable, like listening to a conversation in a foreign language.